Chapter 496
2021-01-06
Chapter 496 Anti-criminal crimes!Three-way Night's Watch Pioneer north out of Wall the next day, early morning.
Heaven is not beautiful. Instead, it stands above the cloud curtain and sprinkles snowflakes down one after another. The fine white ice crystals flutter between Heaven and Earth, making the distance in the field of vision shrouded in gray fog.
The road-opening troops that have departed from the three major fortresses are now trudging cautiously and slowly in the snow in the north of the Saibei, according to the plan already made by the high command: to open up a road for large troops to pass through in the Haunted Forest , to find a suitable place to establish an advance base, and to search and detect the whereabouts of the enemy - at the cost of doubling the risk yourself, to ensure that the main force behind you will not be ambushed or too far away to meet.
In order to make this expedition look real, not only all the pre-war preparations were carried out, but the expeditions announced by Igor were carefully and carefully planned - not only the appearance In fact, it can also be implemented. In other words: If Igor now gets the exact news that there are Others beyond the wall, and decides to change his schedule and actually go on an expedition, this military operation can really start.
Of course, meaningless assumptions do not need to be discussed further, not to mention that Others have temporarily disappeared from the world with the death of the old and new Night Kings and the retreat of the Cold God, even if there is still life, as long as it is If one hundred thousand dead people are not gathered again on the wall beyond the wall and ready to attack again, Igor will launch a southern expedition unshakably. The swinging old-school Night's Watch had to be exiled to beyond the wall to reduce the threat, but now north of the Wall, there are neither Others nor wildlings, aren't they destined for a futile ultra-long-range patrol?
No, even for this group of temporary exiles, Igor still made more detailed arrangements to ensure that their value was squeezed out, so that the food and forage materials sent by the logistics department to Wall could be used.
The members of the three-way pioneers are not all Night's Watch, but each team is stuffed into a small number of selections, once sent to Queenscrown as a hostage, and has studied language and mathematics there. New land-grant tribal teenagers with excellent grades in subjects such as geography and geography. In addition to the mission of "Searching for Others", which is destined to be fruitless, the road-opening force has another important task: through reconnaissance, on the basis of the original old map, modify the wrong or changed geological features and hydrological environment, and further fill in The blank content combines the experience of the Rangers with the surveying and mapping knowledge of the Academy youngsters to form the final product - the new version of the beyond the wall map!
Igor can't force the tribes who want to return to beyond the wall to stay in the land grant, so as to lay a restless factor for the rule, but at the same time he is not willing to let the Legion's only 40,000 people shrink again, or even become a new one. "wildling" such a threat. So, he naturally came up with an astonishing idea that neither in the last ages Night's Watch nor the rulers of the North had ever had: bring the Haunted Forest of Saibei under his rule!
The three expeditionary vanguards who drove out of Wall in order to ensure the smoothness of the southern expedition became his 1st Step attempt for this idea.
The plan to expand the territory northward is just a habitual move to prepare for the future. For now, Igor must first get the Queen's legal rule over the Seven Kingdoms to the south.
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The main force has been assembled outside the Queenscrown city wall. According to the official plan, Igor will lead them to spend a day driving north to Castle Black, and then tomorrow morning Also advance into Saibei through the tunnel, at full speed along the road paved by the pioneers and the guiding signs left behind at a distance of a dozen or more li.
Because of more preparation time, overseas operations also require logistics rather than just Warrior. At this moment, the scale of the land-grant army gathered outside Queenscrown to participate in the expedition is larger than that of the previous pursuit of the south fleeing Others, even gender. Not all men. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, old and new, who have come from all over the land grant to take part in the Deepwood Motte recapture, the Moat Cailin surrender, and even bloody battles with the Ironmen at Ice Gap Harbor, and the ghouls inside and outside the walls of the land grant capital Gathered in the square outside the town, waiting for the Lord Commander to preside over the "Expedition Pledge Conference".
They didn't wait too long. Under the gaze of thousands of lines of sight, Igor, dressed in a light black robe, appeared on time with a group of soldiers, walked out from the Queenscrown gate and was under the guard. After crossing the army formation, they boarded the temporary high platform built in the front.
…
A few snowflakes were blown against his face by the wind, melting his body temperature into water droplets, and then wiped away with his hands, Igor looked up at the ash-gray sky , slightly frowned: It was a sunny day for a long time, but it ended on the day when the Southern Expedition started. Even if he didn't believe in the superstition of "omens", he would still feel uncomfortable.
He didn't know if and when the snow would get bigger, so he didn't dare to waste time. After standing still, he turned to face the more than 5,000 soldiers who were about to go out. Breathes deeply and started loudly. speech.
"Land Grant Warriors, it's a pleasure to stand here and speak to you all intact after so much wind and rain. Everyone knows what we're going to do today, so Without further ado, please allow me to pay tribute to all those present, who are still willing to bravely stand up and join this battle after seeing the horror of the enemy!”
The soldiers remained unmoved looking at He was a little disdainful in his heart: Who stood up bravely? Obviously it is mandatory to participate, why do you say it so nicely!
"As usual, I should next reiterate our purpose in fighting Others, emphasizing that fighting them is not for others but for our oneself's children and grandchildren, and after babbling about this chal... Everyone knew whether they would accept it or not, so they just announced the start of the expedition.”
Igor glanced around the scene, and was not surprised to find that the morale was not high. But it doesn't matter, his next words will surely attract everyone's attention with ease.
"But today, I'm not going to do that! I'd like to start by talking to all of the brethren who have fought alongside me about some rumors that have recently appeared in the land grant, namely that—the presence Most of you must have heard the news: the kings and nobles of the South intend to liquidate us for no reason after this beyond the wall expedition, order the mountain clans to move back to the mountains, and send the people from beyond the wall. The new land-givers will be expelled back to the north of the wall."
A stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the reaction caused by Igor's sudden turn of words spread like a wave of water with him as the center, and could be heard when you were close. The bored expressions on the faces of most of the soldiers were swept away, and even the soldiers in the back who were far away and could not hear because of the sound absorption of the snow on the ground, after whispering, figured out what happened from his mouth, and then joined in. In the ranks of the same full of energy, tens of thousands of eyes turned in unison as if under the unified command of some magical force, staring at the people on the stage.
Under everyone's attention, Igor took a breath and raised his volume, continuing his unexpected "pre-war mobilization".
"Everyone is angry, I can understand that feeling, and I also apologize for High Command's indifference to this news during this time. But in addition, I must ask for your understanding: as Night's Watch Legion Lord Commander, I am responsible for the whole land grant, I can't go to the king and nobles in anger just because of such a 'supposed' news - I have to find out the source of this news and its truth Sex, and then react. During this time when everyone was so outraged by this rumor, I actually did not have a moment of leisure, and now I announce to you with regret: This news is very Maybe it's not create something from nothing!"
Of course, the news is not create something from nothing, but he sent someone to spread it. This sentence announced by Igor is analyzed according to strict grammar. In fact, it says It's the same as not saying it. But it would be too embarrassing to expect the land-grant warriors in the audience, who mostly do not know a single character and have not received the slightest logic training, to distinguish the subtle but huge difference between "probably not create something from nothing" and "surely true". . The reason why Igor uses this awkward statement instead of directly falsely saying "confirmed the news" is precisely because it can achieve the exact same effect, but avoids stigmatization and smearing - in case someone in the future Ask him why he lied to oneself's soldiers in the first place, and he can confidently retort: oneself never said that the news was true, but was just as deceived as everyone else.
"hong" sounded, until the heavy news was transmitted into the ear through the vibration of the air and converted into nerve signals through the eardrum and cochlea into the brain, and the soldiers who responded one beat were surprised to find out: Lord Commander What was thrown into the water was not a stone, but a mine. Compared to the heaven overflowing giant wave it exploded, the previous ripple was insignificant.
The square where the expedition swearing-in meeting was held exploded, and the noises and roars caused by the discussions and roars of thousands of Warriors and support staff were so loud that even the residents of Queenscrown within the walls could clearly hear them. Some people are shouting to kill all the nobles in the south, some are calling on the new land givers to stop playing with the southerners and return to beyond the wall, and more are at a loss and don't know how to react... ...not to mention ordinary soldiers, even the officers who were brought up by Igor were confused by the sudden revelation that they didn't say hello in advance. .
...
"The Land and the Wall are the first line of defense in the human world. We have spent time and energy building it; we have shed blood and sweat to perform our duties. , Make sure to live up to this identity; even if we have completed our mission and have a clear conscience, we have not relaxed, and we still plan this unprecedented scale beyond the wall expedition, wanting to completely destroy the enemy and leave all Westeros residents a safe living environment ." Having clearly shifted the object of his anger and placed oneself's position on the side of the land-givers, Igor was not in a hurry to continue, but did not reopen until the noise of the scene subsided: "I used to naively thought, The enemy is in the north, outside the Wall, and as long as they are eliminated, they can be peaceful. But when I look back, I am shocked to find that the group of people who I believe are allies and solid backers are using bloodshot scarlet Keep your eyes on my back!"
"As we face the Others, alone and needing support and help the most, those goddamn kings and nobles are in the South for a meaningless sheet of Iron chairs fought for blood. Today, we stand here in the land that we watered and guarded with blood and flesh, those who hid in the warm safety of the South, never killed a ghoul, saw The guy who passed the Others half a finger, but just finished enjoying our protection on the front foot, turned around and denied our status as legal residents of the kingdom of Westeros, questioned our qualifications to live here, and wanted to rush us away to the north to fight. Take advantage of this gap, and deprive us of the right to enjoy the fruits of victory!"
"Others are the natural enemies of mankind, they are the source of the crisis we just went through... But, it is the one behind us. The black and white of the wicked are reversed, the right and the wrong are right and wrong, and the inaction is hindered, which makes this war that should have been easily won so tragically and difficult! Demons and ghosts and Great Other, even though they are hateful, they are just not me. Race is the opposite of the human position, but those traitors who have the same appearance and the same flesh and blood as us, but put their own interests above all human beings, are keen on infighting and ignore the survival of the entire race. The most damned villains!" Igor's expression twisted slightly in excitement, and the volume continued to rise: "Their infuriating narrowness and despicableness, the stupidity and selfishness of self-destructing Wall, is more than Others, between Heaven and Earth Every living person, including you and me, is the greatest threat! Today, I am here to accuse every aristocrat who did not contribute to this war on this land where we live, for committing crimes against people !!”
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(end of this chapter)